Packaging apparatus



March 30, 1954 INVENTOR John O. Haw

fwmzwan ATTORNEY mm v m\ ww RN March 30, 1954 J O HAW 2,673,432

PACKAGING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 8, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Eggs) INVENTOR" Jblm 0. How

BY ham ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 30, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT o r cs-j PACKAGING APPARATUS John 0. Haw, Chester, Va., assignor to.E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application November 8, 1952, Serial No. 319,542

3 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for use in the manufacture of rayon. More particularly it relates to a method of covering freshly spun rayon cakes or filamentary packages and an apparatus adapted for such use.

In the production of rayon according to the bucket process, the yarn is collected in the. form of a cake. The yarn is fed through a reciprocating guide funnel into a revolving bucket. By a combination of the centrifugal force developed in the revolving bucket and the reciprocating motion of the funnel the cake is formed. When this operation has continued for a period of time suflicient to build a. cake of the desired thickness, the cake is removed from the bucket and subiected toafter-treatment operations.

However, before subjecting the cake to. the after-treating liquids it is. necessary to wrap it in a protective covering. This protects the cake from damage that otherwise might result from handling during the treatments. The wrapper may be of any material sufilciently porous to permit the permeation of the after-treating liq ids therethrough, but nevertheless adequate to protect the threads during normal handling. The wrapper is usually composed of textile. ma terial, paper or paper-like material.

Past practice has involved the manual appli-- cation of pre-cut wrappers to the rayon .eakes. This procedurev requires considerable manipulation of the cakes, which is time. consuming and often results in damage to the yarn or thread. Reco nizing these. shortcomings, several types of apparatus have been designed to accomplish the task: These have also required pre-cut wrappers. Mostofthem operate; by stretching the wrapper over a form, placing. the cake onthe.-

wrappedform and again stretching the wrapper to fit it over-the cake. A porous material, elastic enough to withstand excessive stretching without tearing, is required. Loosely-knit textile material is suitable for this purpose. Paper or paper-like material, which is more desirable because of its inexpensiveness, lacks the necessary strength.

The present invention has for its principal object to provide an improved apparatus for applying a covering or wrapper to a yarn or thread package. Another object is to obviate the necessity for pre-cut Wrappers by using a continuous length of covering material that is cut to the desired length during the wrapping operation.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which subjects the package or cake to a minimum amount of handling.

Other objects and advantages of the invention willbecome apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, which illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention,

Figure 1 is a plan view of an apparatus embodying the invention,

Figure 2 is a sectionalside elevation taken on the line 22 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a detail sectional elevation of the paper gripper and tube shown in Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the papergripping device as it appears when removed from its tube,

Figure 5 is a perspective view illustrating a suitable method of folding the paper or paperlike material for use in this apparatus, and

Figure 6 is a view of the apparatus showing a partially covered cake.

The apparatus as shown in the drawings comprises a movable cylindrical tube l2 that fits within a longer, stationary cylindrical tube [3. Attached to the movable tube is a handle I 1, that fits through a longitudinal slot It in the stationary tube and is used to move the shorter tube along the length of the longer tube. A gripping member 20 is frictionally engaged by the end of the. movable tube. The gripper is so designed that it will retain its grasp on the wrapping material when the movable tube is moved toward the cake and will release its grip when the movable tube is withdrawn and returned to its 0riginal position. The stationary tube is also slotted transversely at 2|.

sever the covering material to provide a wrapper of the appropriate length.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, reference character 30 indicates the cake or package to be wrapped. The cake is placed on the platform 3 I. The surface of the package supporting platform is curved to match the outer contour of the package, only contacting sufiicient outer surface of the package to support it. The movable cylindrical tube l2 slides within stationary cylindrical tube l3, which is held in fixed position by suitable supporting means 33. The platform I! and tubes l2 and I3 are so arranged that the tubes are approximately concentric with the package 30 when positioned on the platform. For the purpose of this invention, it is merely necessary that the movable tube l2 be capable of passing within the annular opening of the package 30 without disturbing any threads.

A roll of covering material 34 is placed on a This slot is positioned so that a, knife 22 or similar cutting means can 3 rotatable support 35. The material is taken from the roll by rotating the roll on the support. The released end of material is inserted through the tubes and gripping member 20, shown in Figure 4, and the gripping member is positioned in the tube l2. If paper or paper-like material is used, it is preferably folded over and spliced with an adhesive so that it may be formed into a tubular shape. The manner of folding is not important to the practice of this invention. A satisfac tory method of folding is illustrated in Figure 5. The roll 34 may be placed some distance away from one end of the stationary cylindrical tube I3. The cake 39 is placed on platform 3| at the other end of the stationary tube [3.

The operation of this apparatus comprises ad'- vancing the tube 12 to the left by means of the handle I? to draw the covering material through guide ring 39, through tube 13 and through the annular opening of the cake to the position shown in Figure 2. The tube 12 is then returned to its original position by moving handle I! back to the right. As the tube is withdrawn the operator draws the protruding wrapping material over the outside surface of the cake. At this stage, as shown in Figure 6, the wrapping material covers the inside surface, the outer surface and one shoulder of the cake.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the gripping member 20 is designed so that it releases its tight grasp of the covering material while tube I2 is being returned to its original position. The paper-gripping device may be formed of polyethylene or other elastomeric material such as rubber. It is slotted along the entire length of one side to facilitate insertion of the end of the paper tube when starting up a fresh roll of paper tubing. The gripping member is removed from the tube 12 for this operation. The member is made of slightly larger outside diameter than the inside diameter of the tube so that there will be a frictionally tight fit. The jaws id, 4| of this member are turned inward toward each other at about a 45 angle. The gap between these is made approximately that of the greatest thickness of the folded paper tubing.

When the tube I2 is completely withdrawn, a cutting member 22 is releasedso that it passes through slot 2| to sever the wrapping material.

The distance from slot 2| to the end of the cake determines the amount of wrapping material that will protrude beyond this end of the cake. The partially wrapped cake is then removed from platform II and the wrapping operation is completed. The operator draws the protruding wrapping material over the exposed shoulder of the cake.

The apparatus of this invention has numerous d advantages that will be apparent from the description above. It transforms a slow, tedious process into a rapid, economical one. By sub stantially reducing the amount of manual manipulation of the cakes, not only is time saved but thread damage is minimized. Since it is possible to use permeable paper or paper-like material with this apparatus, evengreater economies are effected. After use of'these wrappers during the liquid treatments, drying, and the like, and finally during transportation of the filamentary packages to other plants for textile or preparatory operations, the wrappers may be discarded. The nuisance and expense .of returning the more expensive knitted wrappers are avoided. The apparatus is designed to use a compact, continuous roll of wrapping material. Advantages over the use of pre-cut wrappers are obvious. The continuous lengths are less expensive, require less storage space, and arenot easily lost or damaged.

As many different embodiments of the present invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed except to the extent defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for wrapping annular rayon cakes comprising a stationary tube adapted to extend into the opening of a rayon cake, means for supporting a rayon cake in position for wrapping at one end of said tube, means for supporting a roll of tubular covering material adjacent to the other end of said tube, a movable tube fitting within and adapted to be slid back and forth within said stationary tube, and a gripping member carried by said movable tube adapted to grip covering material passing through said movable tube when the tube is moved toward said cake position and adapted to release the grip when the tube is moved in the opposite direction;

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said gripping member is made of elastomeric material and has two gripping jaws which ap proach each other at an angle to the axis of the movable tube.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 and including means for severing covering material to provide a wrapper of appropriate length for covering the rayon cake.

' JOHN O. HAW.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

